Submersible planing device



y 26, 1964 R. L. ELY, JR 3,134,351

SUBMERSIBLE PLANING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 6, 1961 INVENTOR DALPH L. Eu, JR.

ATTORNEW May 26, 1964 R. L. ELY, JR 3,134,351

SUBMERSIBLE PLANING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F l g. 3

Filed Oct. 6, 1961 INVENTOR DALDH L- EL JR.

ATTORNEY y 6, 1964 R. L. ELY, JR 3,134,351

SUBMERSIBLE PLANING DEVICE Filed Oct. 6, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR DALPH L. HT, JR.

WWa/MM ATTORNEY? United States Patent O- 3,134,351 SUBMERSIBLE PLANING DEVICE Ralph L. Ely, .l'iz, 609 Morehead Ave, Durham, N.C.

Filed Oct. 6, 1961, Ser. No. 143,4?6

Qlairns. (Cl. 114-16) This invention pertains to a control system for craft which are supported and/ or guided in a fluid medium by movable foils or the like. The invention has particular application to craft which submerge in water.

It is the principal object of the invention to provide an extremely simple and inexpensive control system for the purposes aforesaid, for use in craft in which a person lies or sits and may be self-propelled or towed by a surface boat. A craft of this type is described, for example, in Patent 2,948,251. Extreme simplicity is required in order that the weight of the craft be a minimum and therefore the portability enhanced. Also, the cost must be minimized. Therefore, no complicated mechanisms are suitable.

In accordance with the present invention, and assuming there to be a body or frame of some type constituting the craft, two vanes or foils will be mounted at some position along the craft, these extending laterally thereof, to either side. These foils will be rotatable about an axis which extends transverse of the longitudinal axis of the craft and horizontally when the craft is upright. foils which rotate may be in the nature of tabs or ailerons which function in cooperation with other, fixed surfaces, but in the simplest case, the entire foil will rotate about the transverse axis. In so doing, the angle of attack of the foil to the oncoming fluid is altered, and the lifting effect is changed. By the control system to be described below, the opposite foils may be rotated in unison, to equally increase or decrease the lift effect on both sides of the craft. Or, the foils may be oppositely rotated, to increase the lift effect on one side, and decrease it on the other, to bank the craft. As will be seen, the control systems in fact permits of any combination of rotation of the foils in unison and in opposition.

By lift effect is meant the force generated by a foil largely transverse to its movement through a fluid, when the angle of attack is changed. As used herein, this terminology applies to a normally downward force which may be required to maintain a buoyant craft submerged, as well as to an upward force required to prevent a heavier than fluid craft from sinking. By foil is meant an entire vane or a part thereof, which by rotation about an axis, alters the lift effect of the foil or the component of which it is a functional part.

Past attempts to combine banking and depth control have required a pronounced arcuate motion of the control point, e.g. a stick. This has occurred because the stick was joined to the foils by two freely hinged independent push-pull rods. I have discovered that a single or unitary and rigid structure should be employed to join the stick or like control point to the foils. While this requires some lateral leeway in the points of attachment of the unitary stiucture relative to the craft, nonetheless, an equal amount of banking effect without overall diving or lift effect may be secured with a lesser deviation of the control point from a strictly lateral direction.

My invention may be best understood with reference to an illustrative embodiment which will now be de- The 3,134,351 Patented May 26, 1964 ICC scribed. This embodiment may be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows a side elevational view of anembodiment of the invention.

' FIGURE 2 shows a top plan view of the embodiment of FIGURE 1. V 7

FIGURE 3 shows a front elevational view partly in section of the embodiment of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 shows a modification of a portion of the embodiment of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 shows a tandem drive according to the invention. 7

FIGURE 6 shows another tandem control according to my invention. v

FIGURE 7 shows a third tandem control in accordance with my invention. I

FIGURE 8 shows a fourth tandem control in accordance with my invention.

FIGURE 9 shows a control for two sets of foils according to my invention.

Now referring to the drawings, reference character 10 denotes the outline of the body of a submersible craft which may be self-propelled, or towed by a surface craft. A conventional rudder l2 and'vanes 14 are provided at the stern, for lending stability to the craft. Forward are two laterally arrayed foils 16 and 18. A transverse rod member 2t) is secured in a portion 10a of the hull or body of the craft, and member 20 extends freely through apertures in each'foil 16, 18, an enlarged end or head 20a being provided at the outboard ends of member 20 to prevent the foils slipping off. Sleeves 22 are secured to foils 16, 18 and these members, which freely surround member 26, extend inwardly through openings 24 in the hull of the craft, where they terminate at crank arms 26 which are aflixed thereto. For reasons which are given below, compression coil springs 28 may if desired be provided to act between the crank arms 26 and the portion 10a o'fthe hull. i

At the ends of the crank arms 26 are ball-and-socket joints 3t) and 32. Joint 3% is on the crank for foil 16, and joint 32 is similarly associated with foil 18. Joints 3% and 32, which will be referred to as driving joints,

serve to connect the crank arms 26 with arigid structure which includes a member 34 extending generally between joints 3t and 32.

Rigidly secured to member 34 is a control member 36 which has a major portion offset, so to speak, from a line tached to a stick or held in the hand, will be termed a control point.

It will be apparent that many forms of structure may be used to provide rigidity between the three points 30, 32 and 38, and no limitation to the precise structure shown is necessary or intended.

In operation, and assumingthe craft to be moving forward through the surrounding fluid, if the operator desires to further submerge, he may move the control point directly forward. Both foils will rotate in unison so that the leading edges depress, and the craft will be driven down. If the operator wishes to ascend, movement of the control point directly aft will raise the leading edges of the foils 16 and 18 in unison, and the craft will rise.

To bank the craft, which is desirable in effecting a turn, movement of the control point transverse, or lateral to the craft, will cause the foils 16 and 18 to be rotated in opposite directions. For example, if the control point is moved to starboard, the leading edge of foil 16 will depress, and the opposite for foil 18, whereupon the craft will bank to the right. Any combination of banking and total lifting forces may be secured by moving the control point to positions which combine lateral and foreaft movement.

The foils 16, 18 and the sleeves 22 are permitted some lateral movement along rod 20 because upon lateral movement of control point 38 the rigidity of member 34 will draw the driving joints 30 and 32 slightly together with respect to any fixed point along the rod 20. If it be desired to equalize lateral movement of the foils, springs 28 may be provided. Without equalization there would be an undesired banking effect, because there would be more foil area further outboard on one side than the other. Of course, no limitation is necessary or intended to the just described arrangement for accommodating the lateral movement of the driving joints 30 and 32. Many other designs are available. For example, the crank arms 26 could be laterally resilient, or in fact hinged to the sleeves 22 for lateral movement. A pin 44 (FIGURE 4) could protrude from the center of member 34 and slide in a fore-aft groove 46 in portion 10a of the hull, and equaliz ing springs 28 could be eliminated. While the foregoing expedients may be employed, in many cases lateral foil movement will not be a problem. For example, with foils of large area therefore requiring but little rotation to cause all necessary change in left effect, the converging of joints 30 and 32 would be nil in any event, and even the same lateral movement of but one of the foils could be ignored with no discernable impairment in performance.

FIGURE describes how a tandem drive may be provided. Control sticks 50 and 52 are hinged at 54 and 56 to a shaft 58 which rotates in bearings in blocks 60 which are affixed to the craft. Bar 62 is hinged to the sticks at 64 and 66 above the hinge points 54 and 56. Due to this interconnection of the sticks 50 and 52 will move in unison, and both serve to operate control point 38 in identical manner.

FIGURE 6 illustrates still another tandem drive similar to that of FIGURE 5 except that in place of the bar 62 the shaft 58 is hollow and further points 62 and'64 on the control sticks 50 and 52 are interconnected by a flexible member 66 which for the major part of its length runs through a tubular housing 68, the latter being confined vw'thin and fixed by some suitable means (not shown) to the shaft 58. In general, the member 58 need be but fixed at some suitable point to the framework of the craft. This provides a rigid push-pull arrangement between the points 62 and 64, but avoids the bar 62 (FIG- URE 5) being in the way of the operation.

Still another version of the tandem drive is shown in FIGURE 7 where a push-pull rod 70 runs through the hollow interior of shaft 58. The further point 62 on control stick 50 is connected to the end of rod 70 by a rocker arm 72'. The latter is hinged at its midpoint 74 to a member 76 of the craft. In similar fashion the further point 64 on control stick 52 is connected to the other end of rod 70 by a rocker arm 78 hinged at its midpoint 80 to another member 82 of the craft. The members 76 and 82 are fixed to the craft, except permitted to rotate about a fore and aft axis in fixed companion members 84 and 86 respectively, in which they are journalled. It will be observed that fore and aft components of movement of either control stick will be translated to the other control stick via the rocker arms and push-pull rod. At the same time the ability of members 76 and 80 to rotate in frame mem- 4 bers 84 and 86 permits transverse components of motion to be imparted to the control sticks.

In FIGURE 8 a still further tandem drive is shown wherein the shaft 58, journalled in posts 60 attached to the frame work of the craft, is characterized at either end by offset portions 88 and 90, which are hinged to the control sticks 50 and 52 at points 92 and 94 respectively. The control sticks terminated in pivotal connections 96 and 98 to a push-pull rod 100 which extends through the interior of shaft 58. Again it will be observed that the move ment of either control stick in any direction will impart a like motion to the other control stick.

FIGURE 9 shows how the same type of control may be exercised from a control stick (or tandem control sticks) to operate a second set of foils 182, 104. In this case the latter foils are connected to a control point 106 on the control stick 108 which is below the main hinge point 111) of the control stick, whereas the connection to the forward foils 16 and 18 is at a control point 112 above the main hinge point 111). In opera tion, any component of motion of the top 114 of the control stick forward (toward foils 16 and 18) will cause same to tend to submerge the nose of the craft While the foils 162 and 104 will be moved in the opposite direction tending to lift the stern of the craft. Thusly, the driving tendency is augmented. The reverse effect on the respective sets of foils occurs for the rearward case of the top of the stick. Any transverse movement of the top of the stick to the left or port side will cause the foil 16 to tend to lift the foil 18 to tend to submerge and the desired bank effect is achieved. The same motion of the stick will cause the foil 104- to tend to submerge and the foil 102 to tend to lift thereby causing the foils to act in unison to bank while nevertheless acting in the aforesaid opposition in response to foreaft movement of the control stick.

The foregoing detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention has been given only for purposes of explanation and is not intended as a limitation upon the scope of the invention, which is to be determined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In control apparatus for a craft having a body and two laterally arrayed lifting foils independently rotatable about a common axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the craft, a driving joint on each foil equally offset from said transverse axis, a rigid structure interconnecting said driving joints, the rigid structure including a control portion offset from a straight line joining the two driving joints thereby providing a control point, the apparatus including means allowing motion of said driving joints relative to one another in directions parallel to said transverse axis.

2. An apparatus as in claim 1 including means allowing motion of the foils relative to one another along said transverse axis.

3. An apparatus as in claim 2 and further including means for equalizing the motion of said foils along said transverse axis with reference to a fixed point thereon.

4. An apparatus as in claim 1 and further including means for equalizing said movement of said driving joints relative to a fixed point on said transverse axis.

5. Control apparatus for a craft as in claim 1 and further including a second set of two laterally arrayed lifting foils individually rotatable about a common axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the craft and spaced from the common axis of the first mentioned foils, a driving point on each second mentioned foil equally offset from said transverse axis, a rigid structure interconnecting said driving points of the second mentioned foils, the latter rigid structure including a control portion offset from a straight line joining the two driving points thereby providing a second control point, the apparatus including means allowing motion of said driving points of said second mentioned foils relative to one another parallel to said transverse axis, at least one control stick pivotally mounted upon a portion of the body of said craft, means above said pivotally mounted means of said stick for pivotally connecting the control point of the first mentioned foils to said control stick, and means below said hinge point forpivotally connecting the control point of the second mentioned foils to said control stick.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Peterson June 23, 1931 Mignet June 1, 1937 Ziegler June 20, 1939 Rouanet Jan. 27, 1942 Maneval Mar. 30, 1954 Degenfelder Feb. 28, 1956 Gongwer Feb. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS France Oct. 30, 1939 

1. IN CONTROL APPARATUS FOR A CRAFT HAVING A BODY AND TWO LATERALLY ARRAYED LIFTING FOILS INDEPENDENTLY ROTATABLE ABOUT A COMMON AXIS TRANSVERSE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE CRAFT, A DRIVING JOINT ON EACH FOIL EQUALLY OFFSET FROM SAID TRANSVERSE AXIS, A RIGID STRUCTURE INTERCONNECTING SAID DRIVING JOINTS, THE RIGID STRUCTURE INCLUDING A CONTROL PORTION OFFSET FROM A STRAIGHT LINE JOINING THE TWO DRIVING JOINTS THEREBYT PROVIDING A CONTROL POINT, THE APPARATUS INCLUDING MEANS ALLOWING MOTION OF SAID DRIVING JOINTS RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER IN DIRECTION PARALLEL TO SAID TRANSVERSE AXIS. 